


A nameless snake in the Garden

by starlesssky



Series: Man, Woman, and a cat [5]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Arranged Marriage, F/M, Petting in a car, making the servants awkward, mention of infertility
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-31
Updated: 2016-03-31
Packaged: 2018-05-30 06:53:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6413443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starlesssky/pseuds/starlesssky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They lived in their small garden.<br/>And the snake sneaked in.<br/>When the snake shed the skin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A nameless snake in the Garden

**Author's Note:**

> If you are new to this series, please read [part 1](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5973331) first.  
> P.s. I finally decided her formal name so I changed the text a little bit.  
> P.s.(2) I made a mistake about the time line... so I changed Hux's military title. Sorry for confusing the situation.

_Love is so small it can tear itself through the eye of a needle._  
\- Michael Ondaatje "The English Patient"  


  


* * *

  


  
It was the first time the master of this house came back home since I was hired.  
As the steward told us he would come back soon, the servants began to prepare for his stay. But in my eyes that was not different from that for the normal days... even the madam didn't show any anticipation, just managing the household and taking care of roses, as always. But it didn't mean I was surprised... as I heard they were married by an arranged marriage. During his stay, he would just stay in the house and they would never behave as a husband and a wife, I even doubt if they would see each other.  
Till the master of this house, the colonel of the First Order, Colonel Hux came back home.  
"Our master told me no one shouldn't come around the sunroom for a while."  
As the steward showed his face in the waiting room for servants and said that, some giggled, some groaned, some shrugged.  
"You prepared a new cover for the sofa?"  
"No, I have to check the stockroom. ...Can I wait 'for a while'?"  
"I don't think it would take so long till they move to the bedroom..."  
I blinked and watched between their faces. One of them, a middle aged woman who has taught me how to work in this house noticed me and smiled.  
"Don't worry, it always happens when our master comes back home."  
"Wha, what happens?"  
As I asked, they chuckled.  
"Ok, you told me you worked as a servant for many houses... but I think you are inexperienced about this."  
"I think you should bring her to get the cover rather than explain here."  
"He told us not to come around the sunroom. You forget we have to walk down the corridor from where we can see there?"  
They giggled, while I just blinked several times.  
"Ok, I'm going to tell you what 'is happening' in the sunroom. Our master 'is celebrating' the reunion with our madam. It is weird, I know, but please forgive him, because he finally came back home after four months absence."  
"The, they were married by the arranged marriage, no?"  
As I asked timidly, she nodded.  
"Yes. I know what you think, and we expected it when they were engaged... even I could tell our master hated her so much."  
"Then, why?"  
She shrugged at my question.  
"I don't know, we will never know, but something happened. If there is one thing I can confirm you, they are in love."  
In love. It sounded the most unsuitable words for the ruthless colonel of the First Order.  
"They left the sunroom. Prepare for the dinner right now."  
The steward announced and she turned to the door, perhaps to get a new cover of the sofa. I followed her and helped to search one, then went to the sunroom. It was not so much mess that I imagined, because other servants already began to clean up, or our masters just didn't want to mess around so much, but surely I could tell we needed to change the cover. I couldn't hide a blush on my face, then my mentor laughed.  
"I know it is weird, still weird to me, but just accept it. When you are in love with someone, you can't think other things except your lover, no?"  
I chuckled and shook my head with a sly smile, then began to pull off the cover.  


  


It was the next morning when I saw him - his ginger hair and pale face - for the first time. In the dining room, they took breakfast while the steward told him what happened during his absence. His piercing blue eyes turned to me who stood by the wall, when the steward introduced me to him as a new servant.  
"She works hard. I appreciate her so much."  
As the madam said with a soft smile, he returned a smirk to her.  
"I don't mind she works hard or not, as long as it doesn't matter you."  
It should have sounded in a cold tone, showing his uninterested attitude, but in contrast it sounded in a warm tone... as like he really trusted her.  
And at noon, I couldn't find them in the dining room.  
"We have to bring lunch to the bedroom."  
"Wh, why?"  
As I asked back, my supervisor rose her eyebrow.  
"Because our master and madam stay there, understand?"  
I hung my mouth open, then closed.  
"The, they stay... from at noon?"  
"Our master will go back tomorrow. He doesn't want to waste time."  
She shrugged, then began to walk pushing the lunch cart. She stopped at the corner for a moment, then smirked.  
"Ok, they take a break now."  
She pushed the lunch cart towards the large door of their bedroom, then knocked it.  
"Master, we brought your lunch here."  
Nothing happened for a while, then footsteps came near the door, and I heard his a-little-hoarse voice.  
"Leave here."  
So she took my arm in her hands and dragged me to the corner. I heard the door opened, the creaking of the lunch cart, then the door closed.  
"You have to get used to this."  
As she winked at me, I nodded, still in confuse.  


  


It was the third day he left the house. As he walked down at the entrance hall, clicking his boots and swinging his black long coat, we all bowed our heads, but I wondered why the madam didn't appear to see off her husband. Colonel Hux told the steward to keep the house neat, and I heard he mumbled.  
"And look after Millie."  
He put his hat, which held in his hand, on his ginger head, then left. We returned to our ordinary work, and I asked her when we cleaned the corridor.  
"Why our madam didn't come to see off our master?"  
"Because he doesn't want to see her face when he leaves."  
I blinked and she giggled, wiping the vase on the small table.  
"He doesn't want to show us how much he is fond of her, even sometimes he couldn't hide it. And I'm sure he made her tired so much for that!"  
I smiled weakly, still couldn't believe. He was a merciless colonel of the First Order, he married his wife by an arranged marriage, and he was in love with her. I suddenly noticed why I feel it so strange.  
"Then why our Madam doesn't miss him?"  
I never saw she acted so... like an abandoned wife. Yes, he didn't abandon his wife yet, but it was sure he was absent for a long time. My mentor smiled.  
"Our Madam was born and grown up in a family of general... she knows how the life of an officer's wife is. Even though I think if they had a child, or children, it could be a relief for our Madam..."  
I nodded, but still something didn't sit in my thought.  
"Medeia."  
As the steward called me from behind, I turned around and both of us bowed our heads to him.  
"I think our Madam would wake up soon... she trusts you much so she would like you to help her in the bedroom."  
I nodded to the steward then walked towards the bedroom. I saw a cart full of clean bed sheets and towels besides the door and I felt my cheeks hot. I cleared my throat, I had to focus on my job. I knocked the door.  
"May I come in, Madam?"  
As I entered the bedroom, I looked around. The bedroom was not so mess as I expected... The sunlight filled the bedroom. The curtain was open, swaying a little by the cool bleeze blowing softly through the open window. At the foot of the bed, I found a pile of clothes, folded neatly. Even the shoes were put together by the bed. And the white bed sheets covered completely a tiny figure of our madam. Undoubtedly, he did all of that, for her, for her comfort, when she woke up from their passionate night.  
Like they were in love.  
The tiny figure stirred under the bed sheets, then showed her sleepy face from there.  
"...He left?"  
"Yes. Good morning, Madam."  
She nodded slowly, like she was still half asleep.  
"If you need some more sleep, I will come back..."  
"No, I'm going to wake up... Get a bath ready for me, please."  
I nodded and left for the bathroom. I filled warm water in the bathtub, and when I went back to the bedroom, our madam wrapped her body with the bed sheets. She smiled weakly, sitting up on the bed.  
"Sorry for my laziness."  
"Do you need a help in the bath?"  
"No, I can do by myself. It will take for a while... Clean the room and choose my dress, please."  
She stood up and walked into the bathroom, staggering a little, and when she passed by me, I could see some small bruises on her neck and shoulders... certainly they were left from last night. I couldn't help but holding my breath for a moment and I heard the madam chuckling.  
I shook my head, then began to clean up the room. I changed the bed sheets, then began to clean up the room... and when I looked around the room again, this time I found a medicine bottle on the side table. I gasped, expecting it to be something... for lovers. But I couldn't deny my curiosity. Walking towards the side table, I picked it up and read the label... then frowned. I have heard the name of the medicine... but... it was not...  
"Can you help me to dry my hair?"  
I spun my head toward the voice, and she stood at the door of the bathroom, wrapping her body with bath gown. I returned the bottle on the side table in a hurry.  
"Of course Madam, of course."  
The Madam smiled, then walked towards the dresser to sit down on the chair. I combed her hair, which hanged down over her shoulder, and I didn't know the reason, but it recalled me a black snake. I helped her to dry her hair, but thinking about what I saw.  
"I'll put my underwear while you clean up the bathroom, ok?"  
"Y, yes."  
Walking into the bathroom, I drained the water in the bathtub and put the things in the original spots. As I walked out the bathroom, the Madam already in the underwear so I fumbled her big wardrobe and found a dress, which surely could hide her shoulders and a major part of her neck. I helped her to dress, zipping her from behind... and saw the bruises on her skin clear, I felt my cheeks having heat. As like she could see me, the madam chuckled again.  
"Who hired you before here?"  
"I worked for Mr. Jazono."  
She thought for a moment, then nodded, remembering the big merchant who had a strong connection with the First Order.  
"I worked there for three years... I have helped some women to wear their dresses... but never his wife."  
The Madam laughed, like a girl. I bit my under lip, then shook my head.  
"The servants said you two are in love... and I can see it, Madam."  
As I finished zipping, she turned around and looked at my face, with a smile, but not that I expected. She smiled, not like a lovable wife, not like a lovesick woman. Narrowing her eyes, she looked at me, like a snake glared at a frog.  
"And you wondered, no?"  
As I blinked, she tilted her head, not only innocent, but also knowingly.  
"If we are in love, why we need the medicine, you wondered."  
I couldn't answer, just staring at her quiet smile. I have heard the name of the medicine, the medicine, for some male slaves... especially, so-called sex slaves.  
The spermicide pill.  
She smiled, but this time, not like a snake. She just smiled softly.  
"We are in love, perhaps we are. But not in the way you think. In the way we chose."  
She turned around and walked towards the dresser, to pick up her jewels, as I looked at her hand, at her ring finger, and the ring, which her husband put on her finger.  
I breathed in deeply. I had to contact 'my' general, I thought.  


  


*****  


  


Pushing the door buzzer, I waited for a while in front of the door. I looked up and down at the black metal door, then I heard a voice from behind the door.  
"Who is it?"  
"This is Clytem. We got a new report and I think you want to see it as soon as possible."  
After a moment, the door opened. I walked in the room and found General Hux drying his hair with a towel. He wore a black shirt and trouser but not socks and boots, and it told me he just finished the shower.  
"Sorry for disturbing you, Sir, but we got a new information. We found some possible points of the Resistance base."  
"Already sent our scouts?"  
"Yes, they will send new reports in several hours. Here is the list."  
He took a paper from my hand and looked at it. The towel hanged around his neck and I saw a water drop ran down on his pale neck. I swallowed in secret, and told myself to focus on my job.  
"Cuska..."  
He mumbled and I remembered it was one of the planets on the list. I heard the soft footsteps. Turning my eyes to it, I found a ginger cat - I knew it was his cat, Millicent - and it rubbed her body into his legs.  
"Do you have any idea?"  
"No... I just remember it is famous for roses..."  
I frowned, because the words didn't suit him, in my mind. And he seemed to notice it, shrugging.  
"I'm going to check the information when I go back to the bridge. I appreciate you Clytem."  
"You are fond of roses, Sir?"  
As I asked, he turned his gaze to me, with a frown on his face.  
"No."  
"It looks like you have some interesting knowledge about it."  
"My wife liked roses, that's all."  
I widened my eyes, because it was for the first time I heard about his wife from him. I have heard about General Hux's long-time wife, who died in an accident several years ago, but he never showed any sentiment, any sadness, even, any emotion about it.  
Like he never had a wife.  
And I noticed. In His left hand, which he held the paper, he put the ring on his ring finger. I never saw he pulled his gloves away in front of the other members of the First Order, so I didn't know he still wore the ring.  
"You still love your wife?"  
I had to admit it was a wrong question, because he glared at me with a furious eyes. He gritted his teeth and I should have been scared, but at the same time I had a mission to be completed.  
"It's not your business."  
"Sorry Sir, but I just wonder why I never heard that you had any... woman, since your wife has gone. It was already years ago and you are still young. As a high-ranking officer in the First Order, you can..."  
"Take any woman or any man? You think I am so immoral man?"  
Then he smirked coldly, as like a snake found a pitiful mouse.  
"And it is the way my father told you how to flirt me?"  
I stirred a little, knowing I shouldn't have shown any reaction like that. I opened my mouth, tilting my head a little, putting an innocent smile on my face.  
"What are you talking..."  
"Don't think I am so blind, even though my father thinks of me so, for... my love for my gone wife?"  
As the word, love, came out from his smirking lips, I felt a chill running in my spine. It didn't sound sweet, it didn't sound soft, just... sounded like a cold, bitter, lethal poison.  
Staring back at my eyes, he shrugged.  
"What did he offer, If you convince me to take another woman?"  
"Sir..."  
My voice was trembling, but he seemed not to mind it. He narrowed his piercing blue eyes.  
"I appreciate your work for the First Order, Clytem, but never think you can trap me. You can leave here now, before I decide to throw you out from the First Order."  
As he turned around to show me his back, I noticed Millicent looked up to me, sitting at his legs, as like she knew what was happening in front of her.  
"If..."  
And I wanted to brush away the spine-tingling chill.  
"If you loved your wife so much, why you didn't have a child with her?"  
It was the crucial point of my mission. Brendol Hux wanted a grandchild, because if his son dies on the duty for the First Order, his bloodline would end and he didn't want it. He even wanted to use the death of his son's wife to an advantage, now his son didn't need to be chaste to his wife any longer. And still, he wore the ring, like he was married to her still now.  
He spun around to me, and brushed away the towel from around his neck, glaring at me, gritting his teeth, but it was different from what he showed me before. I could see he was emotional, perhaps too emotional for him, for the ruthless general of the First Order.  
"They decided."  
Even though his voice was so flat.  
"They decided all. They decided who we married. They decided all of that between us. They decided not to let us choose. So, we chose. We would never give them what they wanted from us. I shouldn't let them use her as their tool, even if all of you thought so, used so, I didn't, 'I' won't."  
And suddenly, his gaze softened, like he saw someone through me, but not me. I even felt like someone standing behind me... though I knew there was no one.  
"Even after her death, you try to take her away from me?"  
It sounded painful so much. Like he was not a cold-blooded general. Just a young and beseeching man.  
And Millicent meowed, as like she agreed with him.  
He breathed out, his emotional expression faded away instantly. With a stern gaze, he ran his fingers in his hair, still dumped a little.  
"Leave here now, and tell your client, you can't get what you want."  


  


*****  


  


The private shuttle heaved a little, on the way to home. I put my head on his shoulder, while he put his arm around my waist.  
"...that?"  
I looked up to his profile, missing what he said. He didn't turn his face to me, just looked forward.  
"They always said that, to you?"  
We were going back from the dance party for the cooperators of the First Order. Ordinarily I went alone, because he always worked on the duty as a high-ranking officer. But this time, he was on his short off, and they wanted him to come with me. I smiled, patting his chest softly.  
"You don't have to mind them, darling."  
He chuckled as always as I called him so.  
"Give us a private space."  
As he demanded the chauffeur, the partition closed. Then, with a smirk, he looked down at me, who frowned a little.  
"We"  
"Will arrive home soon, I know."  
Even though it appealed me so much to take you here and now. Whispering in my ear, he began to pull down the zipper on the back of my dress.  
"Behave!"  
"I'm going to wait until home, my sweet."  
He pushed down my dress a bit, to expose my neck and shoulders. This was the dress he gave as a present, and I was not so ignorant what it meant to the man, but still I was anxious to touch intimately outside of our bedroom, even if, he had some strange habit of that. He kissed along my neck, holding my arms over the dress, telling me he didn't intend to pull it down more.  
"They always said that to you?"  
He asked again, putting his lips on my shoulder.  
"About what?"  
"About our child."  
As I breathed out, he looked up to my face. I stared back at his eyes. I always thought they were so beautiful. Too beautiful for a heartless general.  
"They stopped to ask it to me a long time ago. They gave up on me. But not on you, I know."  
I smiled at his frowning face.  
"They even told me to let you have concubines, like my father did."  
He clucked his tongue, then bit my neck softly. Holding my breath, I came to understand why he chose the dress covering around the neck. He ran his tongue over the bite.  
"And what did you answer?"  
"He was busy on the duty for the First Order. He never had a time for me or other women."  
"Liar."  
He giggled by my ear.  
"Liar? I lied nothing."  
"You think I don't have a time for you?"  
As he bit my ear lightly, I grabbed his shoulders. He licked my ear, then whispered.  
"You want?"  
"What?"  
"Our child."  
He put his hands on my waist, while I ran my fingers in his ginger hair. As I massaged his scalp, he groaned in his throat.  
"No."  
And I answered shortly.  
He looked at my eyes, then caught my underlip between his lips. When his tongue entered my mouth, I ran down my hand from his head, his neck, his chest, his stomach, then reached his groin, now hardened in his trousers. As I grabbed his bulge over the fabric, his moan echoed in my mouth, in my body.  
"Millie."  
"You want to walk before the servants with a bulge in your trousers?"  
"They won't mind, but"  
Please. He murmured under his breath. As my hand unfastened the belt, loosened his trousers, then slid into his underwear, he hissed a little, tangling his tongue with mine. Releasing my tongue, he nudged his nose into mine, with a chuckle.  
"I didn't know my wife likes such a weird thing."  
"Shut up. It was me who always told you to behave in public."  
"You should find a better way to... I don't want to tell my colleagues that my wife breaks my foot."  
I giggled, remembering how many times I stumbled his foot, to warn him we were at the dance party, when he tried to hold me too close.  
"They know nothing."  
He whispered, as I stroke his hardness in his trousers. I stared back at his eyes, which now became deep blue from lust.  
"Huh?"  
"They know nothing about me, about you, about us, about what is happening between us. They never know about what we chose."  
He groaned and pressed his mouth on my shoulder, to suppress his moan. His small voice vibrated my skin and sent a chill in my spine.  
"You have a handkerchief?"  
"In my breast pocket."  
As he answered in a shaking voice, I pulled it out with the other hand to push it in his trousers to cover the head of his length, when he shuddered with a deep cry from his chest. He breathed loudly, then put his forehead on my shoulder.  
"Millie, Mildred Hux Pinastoff."  
And he mumbled something, in a so small voice that I barely missed it. After pulling out my hands to wipe them with the handkerchief, I put it on the seat and held his shoulders in my arms, while he put his arms around my waist. We held each other, as like nothing existed around us, in the small space of the private shuttle, in our small secret garden. I whispered in his ear, with a small smile on my face.  
"I know."


End file.
